Lishui Photography Museum, Lishui, China
November 2025
The International Photography Lishui Award, established by the Lishui Photography Museum, is an international academic prize. The inaugural honoree in 2023 was the internationally renowned American photographer Stephen Shore, who took events during the 2023 Lishui Photography Festival.
A jury of nine senior experts from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Japan conducted a rigorous selection and formally announced photographer Thomas Ruff as the 2025 laureate.
The jury evaluated candidates based on a range of criteria, including artistic achievement, academic influence, cultural background, and national identity, unanimously recognizing Thomas Ruff's exceptional contributions to contemporary photography.
Over a career spanning more than forty years, Ruff has persistently conducted philosophical inquiries and systematic analysis of the medium of photography. He has constantly challenged the boundaries of photography, delving deeply into the image-making mechanisms, technical properties, and ways of seeing images. Through his sustained experimental practice, he has offered invaluable methodological insights to contemporary image practice worldwide, and his achievements and international influence fully merit this honor.
During the Lishui Photography Festival, programming will include a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s personal works, a special lecture with the artist, and thematic seminars, promoting in-depth dialogue and exchange within the international photography community.
Learn more at the Lishui Photography Museum.